The Real Life Clue Mansion: This Price Will Kill You

It was…Colonel Mustard…in the study…with the candlestick! Generations of youth have triumphantly spouted that phrase, or some variation of it, while playing the mystery-themed game Clue. The game many of us recall cherishing as youngsters has become a cultural icon of sorts–spurring a movie, video game, TV series, updated board game, and even a musical–with an equally recognizable backdrop of the infamous Tudor Mansion.

While reminiscing about the good ol’ times spent playing the popular board game, we figured we would put a price tag on our favorite clouded-in-mystery countryside house. Just in case anyone else was wondering.

It’s Not Cheap to Reside in the Murder-Plagued Mansion

Turns out, regularly hosting your own criminal get-together requires a considerable amount of cash. Movoto Real Estate’s head economist estimated that Tudor Mansion would cost around $4,450,000 in American dollars–a fairly reasonable sum presuming that you’ll be using the house to shelter certain extermination practices.

To value the countryside estate, we had to first find the perfect Gothic death-chamber-evoking mansion.

Here’s the house we selected, and how we came up with our price tag.

From Game Board to Life Size

Since Clue(do) was created by an Englishman, we decided that Tudor Mansion should also be located across the pond. (Fun fact: Despite being known in North America as Clue, the English-based board game was originally named Cluedo–a play on the words “clue” and “Ludo,” which is Latin for I play.)

So we went searching for a country house that looks as if it could be home to countless crimes and abundant creepiness.

Thus we give you Scotney Castle, a Gothic-style mansion located near Lamberhurst in Kent, England.

Scotney Castle, Movoto’s version of the infamous Tudor Mansion, was built to replace a 14th-century moated castle that also lives on the property. Source: Oast House Archive

Clue’s ample English country house is known for its signature chambers:

kitchen

ballroom

study

conservatory

billiard room

library

hall

lounge

dining room

And of course you can’t forget the secret passageways and the cellar, where fates are predetermined in the board game.

The “Old” Scotney Castle has been around since the 1370s and is now a dramatic focal point of the estate. Source: Flickr user peter pearson

Our version of the fantastical mansion comes equipped with:

the ruins of a medieval castle, an ideal location for spur-of-the-moment homicides

the Priest’s hole, a niche for concealing yourself from unwanted guests in the south wing of the castle ruins

a resident ghost to frighten your guests when glinting weapons fail to do the trick

its own moat and lake–the perfect place for murder weapons to vanish

more than 750 acres ripe for the picking to bury bodies

In the Movoto Office, With the Bill

To determine how much it would cost to buy your own Tudor Mansion (with plenty of room to hide body bags), we had to first solve our own mysteries: the house’s size, location, and monetary conversion.

Considering that there are six guests (Miss Scarlet, Colonel Mustard, Mrs. White, Reverend Green, Mrs. Peacock, and Professor Plum) plus a butler and a maid staying at Tudor Mansion, the house needs to have at least eight bedrooms.

After looking at three comparable homes to Scotney Castle in Kent, England, we estimated that an eight-bedroom house would cost about £2,860,000.

With the aid of Google’s helpful converter calculator, we figured that the Tudor Mansion from Clue would cost around $4,450,000.

The bad news: it’ll cost you a pretty penny to occupy the riddle-embroiled Tudor Mansion today. But the good news is we’re sure that if you can afford to kill off your frenemies like a modern-day James Bond, the price of Tudor Mansion won’t be an issue for you.

Happy killing.

The Movoto blog is a service of Movoto Real Estate. If you’re looking for a new home, keep us in mind. We have up-to-date real estate listings and local agents throughout the country. When you want to take a break from browsing homes, you can keep coming back to read awesome blog posts like this one.

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posted on: August 1, 2012
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3 Comments

This number is far too low for 750 acres located an hour outside of London. Comparing a two-castle historical property to nearby homes with eight bedrooms won’t work. One needs to take into account the size of the entire property and all buildings. Scotney Castle would be worth $20 million USD at the very least.